Proper response strategy in Counterclaims response.

[PersonWithQuestions]

Jurisdiction

Maryland

Hello Everyone,

I have a question that I could use some advice about...

In a lawsuit, when responding to counterclaims do you give ALL the factual data you have, or just a minimal amount of factual data in order to answer the claims?

- This idea here is we do not know if we should be exhaustive in our response for fear that we will be revealing our legal strategy to pursue the suit in court?

This data will be used in the Scheduling Hearing coming up at the end of September.

I/We have lost confidence in our Law Firm and are in the process of replacing them. We must work on the response(s) before we will be able to inquire with the new firm (whoever they may be) as it will take another week or two to select a new firm. That is why I am asking on this forum.

Any thoughts or insights would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

V/r,

/s/

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BACKGROUND INFO if it is helpful...

I am one of the Members of a Limited Liability Corporation and we had to remove one of Members for misbehavior.

The Member that was removed understood and we were in the process of assembling all the invoices and inputting them into a new accounting system that was purchased before this all happened to give them to our accountants so they could calculated the correct redemption of his interest (shares) .

He then all of a sudden "lawyered up" and took control of our Information Systems illegally. he threatened multiple lawsuits and never filed anything and refused to cooperate. Finally we had to file a replevin, and then a Summary Judgement suit in order to put to rest whether or not we actually removed him...

Our law Firm, although honorable people, is primarily a business law firm, and have not handled this correctly in our opinion. Some of our business advisors have suggested that this is situation is beyond their core competencies, given the divergent amount of factors in this situation; (Employee versus Owner, ADA, Mental Health, Lying to government officials, Government Information Security, redemption valuation, etc...)

We are in the process of replacing the firm as they have made some noteworthy errors in judgement and they seem to be unable to answer our legal questions that are basic to lawsuits etc.

 

[adjusterjack]

In a lawsuit, when responding to counterclaims do you give ALL the factual data you have, or just a minimal amount of factual data in order to answer the claims?

You don't try the case in the complaint and counterclaim.

Whatever allegations are in the counterclaim, you either admit, deny, admit part/deny part, etc.

Even your current lawyers can tell you that, unless you've already fired them.

 

[Zigner]

It's quite likely that an attorney MUST represent the LLC in court, including filings.

 

[PersonWithQuestions]

Thank you AdjusterJack...

RE: You don't try the case in the complaint and counterclaim.

Our Current Attorneys have NOT told us this.. In fact they requested excruciating details of everything and used everything we have given them (about 150 pages of information most of which has the original emails and texts that prove our assertions) in the in the original complaint(s) - which may be valid I do not know...

We have not fired our attorneys as they are decent at business law. We probably will transfer these suits to a Trial Specialist Attorney or Law Frim.

 

[PersonWithQuestions]

It's quite likely that an attorney MUST represent the LLC in court, including filings.

Yes EXACTLY - that is our intention and always has been. Our Senior Member is an Attorney however we have no intention of "having fools for clients" and representing ourselves. His area of expertise is in a very narrow part of Business law, (Federal Contracting).

;-)

 

[zddoodah]

In a lawsuit, when responding to counterclaims do you give ALL the factual data you have, or just a minimal amount of factual data in order to answer the claims?

Depends. Is the lawsuit in federal or state court?

I/We have lost confidence in our Law Firm and are in the process of replacing them. We must work on the response(s) before we will be able to inquire with the new firm (whoever they may be) as it will take another week or two to select a new firm. That is why I am asking on this forum.

That's great, but you will need to have a lawyer of record to file any pleading in the case, and no decent lawyer is going to adopt a pleading drafted by a non-attorney client.

Yes EXACTLY - that is our intention and always has been. Our Senior Member is an Attorney however we have no intention of "having fools for clients" and representing ourselves.

Well...then, I'm not sure I understand the purpose of this thread.

 

[Redemptionman]

along with what adjuster jack stated you also bring into consideration any applicable duties, breaches or comparatives you can in your counterclaim. Agreed though for most of it you respond deny, admit, partial admit or deny, and not enough information. Honestly your new attorney needs to draft the reply and quick. You generally only have 30 business days to reply back.

 

[Tax Counsel]

You generally only have 30 business days to reply back.

As a general rule most deadlines to file replies are calendar days if the time permitted for reply is longer than 7-10 days.

One must read the pleading rules for the particular court involved carefully to ensure you know exactly when the reply is due. I've seen even attorneys screw that up because they didn't carefully read the rule and any court decisions interpreting them. When an attorney screws it up, that can end up with a malpractice claim against the attorney. If a pro se party screws it up, he/she has only himself/herself to blame for that. I've not read the Maryland rules on when a counterclaim response is required, but the OP's attorney should know that. The court won't accept a response from the OP pro se so long as the OP is on file with the court as the attorney of record.